1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of semiconductor manufacturing. More specifically, the present invention relates to a process chamber lid service system for opening/closing and rotating the lid.
2. Description of the Related Art
During chemical vapor deposition (CVD) processing, reactive gases released inside a process chamber form layers, such as silicon oxides or nitrides, on the surface of a substrate being processed. During this process, oxide/nitride deposition occurs elsewhere in the CVD apparatus. The oxide/nitride residue has a deleterious effect on the CVD process if the CVD apparatus is not periodically cleaned.
To avoid these deleterious effects, periodic cleaning procedures are undertaken to remove the oxide/nitride residue every N wafers/substrates, where N is an integer. The cleaning procedures, however, result in periodic down-time for the CVD system, thereby reducing the system throughput. To reduce the total down-time of the CVD system, two types of cleaning techniques are employed: a gas-clean technique and a wet-clean technique. During a gas-clean technique, a cleaning gas, such as oxygen, NF.sub.3, helium and/or nitrogen, is flowed into the process chamber to remove oxide residue present therein. The gas-clean technique is achieved without breaking the vacuum seal of the process chamber, i.e., the seal being formed when a lid associated with the process chamber is in a closed position. This technique minimizes the amount of down-time necessary to perform the cleaning procedure. The gas-clean technique is unable to remove a portion of the oxide residue present in the CVD system, necessitating a periodic wet-clean technique. During a wet-clean technique, the vacuum seal of the process chamber is broken by moving the chamber lid to an open position. A user physically wipes down the chamber using chemical cleaners. Thus, the wet-clean technique is substantially more time-consuming than the gas-clean technique, thereby increasing the down-time of the CVD system.
The prior art is deficient in the lack of effective means of opening/closing and rotating the process chamber lid during semiconductor manufacturing. Specifically, the prior art is deficient in the lack of a process chamber lid service system for opening/closing or rotating the process chamber lid. The present invention fulfills this long-standing need and desire in the art.
In one aspect of the present invention, provided herein is a process chamber lid service system for semiconductor manufacturing. This system comprises a process chamber lid service cart and a process chamber lid service frame. The lid service frame holds the process chamber lid. The cart and the lid service frame are aligned with a guide pin and alignment capture. The cart is aligned at the process chamber with guide frame, which is installed at the base frame of the process chamber. When the cart and the process chamber base frame are aligned, the left leg of the cart is inserted to the inside of the base frame, while the right leg is placed outside of the base frame.
In another aspect, also provided are methods of opening/closing or even wet-cleaning a process chamber in semiconductor manufacturing using the process chamber lid service system disclosed herein.
Other and further aspects, features, and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description of the embodiments of the invention given for the purpose of disclosure.